


Promise

by ofmessaline



Category: Dexter Series - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 23:22:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1282513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofmessaline/pseuds/ofmessaline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Biney understands me, better than new Mommy or Daddy or new sister Deb. (slight AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Everything in italics was taken directly from Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.

_And the inside of a different box jumped back out at me. There were no cartons in this other box. And there were – things over there. Over by…Mommy? I could see her face there, and she was somehow hiding and peeking up over the – things – just her face showing, her unwinking unblinking unmoving face. And I wanted to laugh at first, because Mommy had hidden so well. I could not see the rest of her, just her face. She must have made a hole in the floor. She must be hiding in the hope and peeking up – but why wouldn’t she answer me now that I saw her? Why didn’t she even wink? And even when I called her really loud she didn’t answer, didn’t move, didn’t do anything but look at me. And without Mommy, I was alone._

_But no – not quite alone. I turned my head, and the memory turned with me. I was not alone. Someone was with me. Very confusing at first, because it was me – but it was someone else – but it looked like me – but we both looked like me –_

_But what were we doing in this box? And why wasn’t Mommy moving? She should help us. We were sitting in a deep puddle, of, of – Mommy should move, get us out of this, this –_

I sit up, gasping for breath. I’m covered in thin sheen of sweat from head to toe, and I can’t remember where I am. It’s dark, and warm, and I’m under two or three thin blankets.

 

“Dexter…?” comes the mumbled and yet still highly concerned voice from the bed across from me.

 

“Biney,” I whimper in return, scrambling across the floor to join him in his bed.  He sighs and wraps his arms around me. This has become a nightly thing, as of late. I cannot sleep alone while the memory of Mommy is so present in my mind. Biney can’t either, but he cares more about me than he does about himself. It makes me feel bad, but there’s nothing much that I can do about it. I can’t get through a night without him, and he can’t get through the night without me. It’s a perfect sort of relationship because it requires the same amount of energy and attention on both sides. We would be nothing without each other, not since Mommy went away. Biney won’t tell me where she went, but we had a party for her even though she wasn’t there. It didn’t make sense to me, but Biney pleaded with me not to ask questions. And I’d do anything for Biney. He takes good care of me, and I try to do the same of him.

 

After Mommy was gone and we were left in – in –

 

We were taken in by a nice policeman named Harry Morgan. He and his wife adopted both of us, but Biney still insists on being Biney Moser. He doesn’t like Harry or his family very much.

 

On the other hand, I like being a Morgan. I have both a Mommy AND a Daddy, as well as a sister named Deb.

 

Biney especially doesn’t like Deb, and Deb especially doesn’t like Biney. But they both like me and are willing to at least play at being nice to each other so that they can spend time with me.

 

Deb’s Mommy and Daddy want us to call them Mommy and Daddy, and so I do. Biney refuses, and calls them Mr. and Mrs. Morgan instead. He wants me to call them that too, but I don’t think that I want to. This Mommy and Daddy might not be our Mommy, but at least  _they_  haven’t left us.

 

But, during the nights when I have the nightmare about Mommy, the only person that I could ever think of going to is Biney. He’s the only one that understands – although new Mommy and Daddy might do their best at pretending like they understand, they don’t get it like Biney does.

 

“You’re okay, Dexter,” he’ll whisper softly to me, gripping my hands and keeping me close so that I can feel that he’s close and he’s warm and he cares. “I’ll keep you safe, I promised, remember? I promised when we were with Mommy in The Box.”

 

“You promised,” I repeat shakily, reaffirming the fact to myself.  I can almost feel him smile at me, gently, but with his eyes hidden behind his bangs. He won’t cut them, no matter what new Mommy and Daddy ask him to. He taught me the word ‘rebelling’ – apparently, it means that he’s doing something that they don’t like on purpose. It doesn’t make much sense to me, but it does to him, and that’s really what matters.

 

“Wanna talk about it?” he asks me quietly, as he does every night. As per form, I’m supposed to shutter softly and say no, but something about tonight is different. I can’t tell what it is.

 

“Y-Yes,” I manage out, and quite evidently take him by surprise. I worry, because Biney doesn’t like being taken by surprise.

 

It takes him a few minutes, but he opens his mouth again. “…alright. Tell me about it, then.”

 

I shift uncomfortably, almost changing my mind – this was a bad idea after all. He had been there with me. He didn’t need to go over it again.

 

But I do.

 

And Biney has told me many times that what I needed was more important than what he needed, and although I didn’t really believe him, it is a nice thought to have at a time like this.

 

And so I ramble on, telling him the troubled thoughts that swirl through my head at night. I pour out the strange darkness inside of me that I’ve been trying to hide, but that I know Biney understands. He always understands me – we’re alike that way.

 

As I whimper out what happens in my dream that is also reality, Biney is the only thing that anchors me from this scary darkness that hangs inside of me.

 

It’s not just me – Biney says that he feels the darkness too. And he wouldn’t lie to me, not Biney.

 

Once I’ve finished, he hugs me close. “The Box can’t hurt us any more, Dexter. Mr. Morgan“—he sounds kind of disgusted at the name— “is a police officer and’ll help us. And,” he says, nudging me with his shoulder so that I’ll look up at him, and I do, “I’ll keep you safe. Remember why?”

 

I smile weakly. “’cause you promised.”


End file.
